


Childhood Adventure

by moricat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Romance, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 04:11:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8474851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moricat/pseuds/moricat
Summary: A romantic childhood adventure story featuring 9 year olds Eren and Armin exploring a strange forest in practice for when they go to the outside world!~ (This is also their final childhood adventure before the fall of Wall Maria the very next day...)Lots of eremin sap and fluff as usual. This was SO fun to write!





	

 

> _“Eren… If we could explore the outside world someday… if we…”_

—

The sun rose over the cold walls round Shiganshina district, slowly melting the frost over the trees and grass on this spring morning. The chill in the air lingered, but the light rays shining down over the townspeople who were up, gave the promise of warmer times to come.

Dreams still danced in the back of children’s minds as they stirred awake in their beds and blissfully accepted every new day to come for granted.

But with a shudder, Armin’s eyes burst open.

—

A rapping at the front door and a familiar voice sent the early-rising Armin running to greet the visitor immediately.

“Armin! It’s me, come quick!”

Wrapping his hood around himself as he raced to meet the call, Armin opened the door to see his best friend there, with a satchel at his side and a gleam in his eye. “Eren? It’s so early, what are you doing here?”

“I came to take you on a journey.” he said with such infectious pride in his voice.

“A- a journey?”

“Yes.” he took Armin by the hand and looked him in the eye beaming with excitement. “Come with me, Armin. You and I are going exploring. To the outside world.”

Armin blushed “E-eh?”

“Someday. I promised you we would after we read your book yesterday. But in order to do that we need to practice adventuring together. It’s-- somewhat dangerous outside, after all.”

“Yes it is…”

“No matter! Today, let’s go exploring. Just you and me, in a mysterious place, going wherever the wind takes us. That’s what you dreamed of, right? You _did_ …”

Armin stared blankly “Mmmh… exploring in a mysterious place with you today sounds wonderful… but what if we get lost? Or worse… At the very least, we’d get into so much trouble with our parents!”

“Come on, you trust me right? I’ll keep you safe, and bring you back home in time for dinner! No one will even have time to worry. And I’ve got everything we need right here; food, water, a few extra clothes, bandages, a compass... I just need you to stay optimistic for me.” he grinned again.

Armin looked at him, knowing two kids roaming around in a strange place alone all day wasn’t the safest idea… but the thought of being with Eren, exploring and discovering new things together, just the two of them, for a whole day of such romantic adventure, just sounded too wonderful to resist.

“I don’t know what’s out there, I still think it’s nothing, but whatever it is, I wanna be ready to see it with you. What do you say, Armin?” He held his hand out to his companion, eagerly awaiting his answer.

Armin took a look behind him to make sure no one was watching them, then turned back to Eren with a glow in his cheeks, joyfully accepting his hand. “...Yes. Yes! Let’s go!”

—

Eren lead Armin by the hand as they dashed through town. Armin couldn’t stop blushing and smiling, and Eren couldn’t stop looking behind him to make sure he still was. They finally made it to the inner gate that lead to the inside of the greater Wall Maria. It was still early, thus the lax Garrison wasn’t on patrol, too busy pouring their liquor for the day in their base.

“Just as I thought, no one even cares enough to pay attention! We’ll slip by very easily, Armin!”

“Mmh—“ Staring through the huge, wide open gate, Armin’s expression froze for a moment as a certain fear wavered over him, but he continued running in spite of it. Eren was too busy looking ahead of himself for once to notice his friend’s expression changed behind him.

As the 2 boys found their way past the gate and into the more open lands, Eren finally paused to let them take a rest. Armin was completely out of breath, hunched over, huffing deeply. Eren, a little out of breath himself, rubbed Armin’s back and handed him some water from the satchel.

“You alright?”

“Yeah—“ he assured him, with an incredibly airy reply.

“Good.” Eren pulled out a little map of the inner wall’s land from his bag and checked his compass to make sure they would head in the right direction later. “Here’s the plan, Armin. See that little forest right over there?” he pointed in the way of a small lush forest, flourishing with very thick trees, both normal and colossal sized. "That’s where we’re headed, I read about it in an old maps book last night, it’s called “ _Hyle Forest_ ”. No one’s ever fully mapped it before! It’ll be a real adventure trying to explore our way through it and get to the other side!”

“Eh?! But Eren, I’ve heard there’re dangerous animals in that forest, like boars and-and wolves-- what if we get lost?!”

“Don’t worry, like I said, I have a compass! The gate to Shiganshina is just north, so if we get lost we’ll simply head that direction until we reach home. And those animals probably don’t even come out during the day. Besides, I said I’d protect you, didn’t I?”

“…” Armin stood still, nervous and bubbling with doubt.

Eren tried to reassure him. “Look, Armin... I meant it when I said I wanted to go outside with you…” he held his hands in his. “I believe we can do it! It’s scary, but we’re _strong_! I know we can handle this!” he took Armin in his arms and gestured to the forest before them "We’ll conquer this little forest as kids, and then, some day, we’ll conquer the free world! And it’ll be OUR playground. Yours and mine, Armin! We have a dream together, let us make it our _reality_ together.”

Armin practically swooned for him and his words, it was a side of Eren that came out rarely, and only to him, but never to this intensity before. “Okay, Eren. I believe in us! Let’s take this fierce forest under our wings, and make it our little playground!"

The 2 embraced and then were on their way.

-

Standing at the edge of the forest, the kids looked up at the towering trees. It seemed so small from a distance but quite ominous up close.

Eren held Armin’s hand and turned to face him confidently. “Come on, no doubt we’ll make it through in no time!”

Armin’s worries always melted away when he looked at him like this. “Yeah, no doubt.” And with that he followed Eren’s lead, swallowing the fear.

The darkness as they walked in was most unsettling at first. There was only silence, followed by the rattling of the leaves as the wind blew. The further they walked however, they found that the sun filtered through the giant tree leaves in a beautiful pattern of gorgeous light patches on the ground, as if it were welcoming them inside and inviting them to go further. As the air grew warmer, birds began chirping, creating a wonderfully happy ambience around them. The boys smiled at each other, now more at ease and feeling quite glad they decided to take this journey.

Armin stopped them to point out the lush patch of wildflowers growing off the rough and vanishing path.

“Look Eren! Have you ever seen flowers with such bright colors before? Orange, red, yellow, and black; they look like flames! Aren’t they beautiful?!”

Though genuinely intrigued by their colors Eren wasn’t so impressed, but the smile on Armin’s face definitely made him feel something. “Oh, yeah, I guess they are!”

Armin pulled Eren along to get a closer look and smell them. “Should we take a couple with us? If for some reason we do come home late, such lovely flowers might make our parents less mad at us.”

“Hmm… yeah I guess we should. At the very least it’d keep Mikasa from throwing me into a wall."

As he collected a couple of flowers, Armin began musing out loud. “Just think Eren… when we go outside, there’ll be forests as big as the whole inside of the walls themselves! Imagine what kinds of things would be growing in there! Probably flowers as grand as the jewels in the King's scepter! Or more fruit than you could ever eat! And more flavors and colors than we could ever imagine…”

Eren chuckled. “If you say so... It could just be more of the same as we’re seeing here, you know.”

“Someday you’ll see.” Armin looked at Eren with a wide smile that made Eren's heart skip a beat and his cheeks flush a new shade of pink.

He quickly turned around and picked a flower to hide his face from Armin when suddenly he heard a trickling sound and jumped up.

“What is it, Eren?” Armin asked, placing the flowers in the satchel.

“Do you hear that? It sounds like water! There must be a stream nearby!” he grabbed Armin’s hand and raised him up "Come on, let’s go follow it!”

—

The light over the cold stream glistened before them, moved by the beautiful natural flow of the water that sparkled freely.

“Guess I was right. I wonder if there’re any fish in there?”

Armin’s eyes and smile widened as his imagination began to take flight. “Come on, Eren! Let’s pretend it’s the ocean! We can practice what we’ll do there, I wanna study all the fish and plants in it and taste the salt!"

Eren grinned at his hopeless friend “Alright, Armin, I’ll play along. Show me what there is to see!”

Armin tugged Eren to the edge of the clear water and stared into it like a window. He brought his hand through it.

“Ah! It’s cold! Guess it’s still warming up. Do you think the ocean will be warm, Eren? If the sun can always be over it, maybe it’s as warm as bath water!”

“Hmm… I suppose it could be. But if such a big lake really does exist like _you_ think it does, how can we say the sun is even powerful enough to heat it up, hmm?”

Armin smirked at Eren’s playful wise-ass tone but considered the point anyhow. “Hmm. You may be right. Still though, I like to think it’s warm… I wanna swim in it.”

“Warm and salty? It’d be like swimming in tears.”

“Maybe so. But wouldn’t the sensation be amazing? So rich and wild... Close your eyes and imagine it, Eren, won’t you? For me?”

Eren’s expression softened, as he couldn’t say no to that sweet voice of his. He closed his eyes and tried to picture it for himself while Armin’s warm hand rested against his cheek.

“Can you see it Eren? It’s vast, it’s endless! Wild and rhythmic! And it smells like salt all around you. Tell me, can you taste it?... You’d float there in the warm sun and see the glimmer on the water for miles.  The book said there might even be huge ocean-animals in there that can jump right out of the water way up into the air! Maybe even jump over you--“

“Interesting… And where will you be?”

“Where- would you _like_ me to be? In this scenario?…"

Eren pondered for a moment with a smile then decided to open his eyes and suggest a fun idea.

“Let’s go swimming, Armin!”

“Eh?! But this water is freezing! And I didn’t bring any clothes for swimming--”

“I did! I brought you some too. They might be slightly big on you but honestly they should fit you better than the hand-me-down clothes you wear now.”

Armin blushed.

“Come on, pretend it’s the ocean. Swim with me and show me what there is to see! I’ll keep you warm...”

Armin blushed even more. “A-alright…”

Eren reached in his satchel and handed him some shorts and a small shirt, grabbing another set for himself. They changed clothes, separated by the trunk of a big tree, and Armin shyly let Eren lead him to the stream. With Eren holding his hand ensuring his safety, he stepped into the shallow water and shrieked.

“Ahh!!! Eren, it’s so cold in here!!!” he cried, hugging himself for warmth while Eren chuckled. “What kind of sick idea was this?!”

“That cold??? You must be exaggerating, let me see!” Eren followed suit and stifled his own screams. “F-feels fine to me..."

Armin laughed at the look of shock on Eren’s face at the cold water “What’s the matter Eren, is it not warm enough?”

Eren gave him a side eye then playfully splashed him. “Like bathwater!"

Armin giggled, warming Eren’s heart and body, not even realizing the effect he had on Eren.

“Okay, you’re the leader here, show me what there is to see here in the ocean, Armin! There’s big fish that jump over you, right?” He roared and raised his arms into the air over a laughing Armin’s head and grabbed him into a hug.

“I don’t think fish roar, Eren!”

“You don’t know that, the ocean may have fish that do! If it’s really as amazing as you think it is.”

Wading there in Eren's warm arms, Armin cheerfully looked down at the stream floor. "Well, obviously the ocean will be much much _much_ bigger and deeper than this, but I think when I get to it, I wanna try going under it if I can.”

“Under it?”

“Yeah, to see the plants and fish down there, the book said that there’s a bunch of pretty things called “coral” down there just bursting with color, and fish that’d make you think you were looking through a kaleidoscope. I’ll find a way to see it, I know it’s very salty, which would murder your eyes, but I’ve been thinking about some sort of lens that can go over them to see what’s under there.”

“Oh, some sort of ocean goggles? That’d be so awesome!”

“Haha well since this water is clear enough, we can see what’s down there without such a thing.” he pulled Eren by hand along to the middle, trying not to kick up the dirt settled beneath their feet, and the 2 gazed down at the sights below. Little minnows swam fervently behind them and through their still legs, amusing both of them.

“Let’s try to catch them, it’ll be our lunch!” Eren joked.

“Ew, gross! Do you even know how to cook fish?”

“How hard can it be?”

“You have to clean it first, Eren.”

“Eh? They look clean enough to me, this stream is clear as glass! Here, try a sip.” he teased, cupping some of the water in his hand and holding it up to Armin’s face.

“No way, you drink it!” he laughed, splashing water at Eren’s face.

“How are you gonna taste something as salty and gross as the ocean when you can’t even taste this lovely creek water in the woods?” he chortled, splashing him again.

“The taste of the ocean will be worth it!” Armin shouted joyfully and splashed his companion once more before knocking him into the water with an embrace.

The 2 played like this for a while, filling the forest’s silence with giggles and playful shouting, when Eren suddenly realized it’d been too long that they’d been in there, and Armin’s hands and feet were probably freezing, whether he’d admit to it or not. He insisted they break for lunch and so they left the water to dry in the nearby clearing’s sunlight.

With their dry clothes back on, and their wet clothes hanging on a branch in the light, Eren brought his satchel over to where Armin sat and took his hands in his to make sure they were warm again.

“You alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you.” Armin repressed his blushing to the best of his ability. "What’s for lunch?”

“Some bread, some beans, and a little bit of fancy cheese I borrowed from dad’s gift basket that he got from a grateful patient”. Eren handed him the sweet dessert cheese. “For you, my travel partner.” He checked Armin’s reaction to see if he was impressed, and was glad to see that he was.

“Thank you so much Eren… If I’d had more notice about today, I’d have gathered something for you too…"

“Don’t worry about it! Knowing you’re well fed is enough for me.” Eren gave an army salute to his good friend which triggered a strange worried-looking reaction in Armin.

“Armin? Armin, what’s wrong?! Hey, Armin!” Eren shook his shoulder and cupped his face in his hands trying to get through to him until Armin finally came back to reality.

“Eren!…”

Eren sighed with relief. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Armin looked at Eren, trying to decide if he should tell him what was on his mind, but resolved to wait until later. “Sorry, it’s nothing, just me zoning out.”

“Zoning out? Are you sick?” Eren felt his forehead.

“No no, just… hungry. Let’s eat.” He smiled and rested his hand on Eren’s to calm him down. “This cheese smells amazing, your dad must really win people over, huh?”

“He’s certainly got people skills…” Eren recalled in his mind the numerous times his father told him to be warmer with people, and that Armin would end up being his only friend if he didn’t do a better job of socializing. “...He’s always telling me I should work on mine. I don’t see why. I’d rather be genuine, why put on airs for anyone, huh? _Their_ attitudes should should be honest  _too_ … right?”

Armin thought for a second before smiling at his fierce-eyed friend “…Well, you certainly won me over…”

Eren’s cheeks flushed “…Yeah…. that’s all I need… _you_.”

Armin’s cheeks followed suit with Eren’s and their eyes met. Locked on one another for a moment, Armin broke the silence. “You should eat… we’ve got a lot of walking to do if we’re gonna make it out of here before dinner time…” he turned away from Eren’s gaze and contently chewed his bread.

“…Right. Think we’ll make any new discoveries? Maybe there’s a secret gold mine somewhere along the way! We’ll be rich!”

Armin smiled “I don’t think gold comes from places like this… we may find a nice fruit tree at some point though.”

Eren pursed his lips and smirked. “I suppose that’s a more realistic start."

Armin blushed again, incredibly amused at the ever-caged Eren’s attempts at romanticism for this adventure.

—

When they’d finished eating, Eren checked the compass, trying to decide what direction they should go since they were now roaming in unmarked territory.

“I think we would be wise to follow this stream, Eren.”

“We would?"

“Yes, if we get too lost we can always follow the stream back, right? Plus, as you suggested, there’s fish and clean water in it if we need it in an emergency. It’s just a safety precaution.”

“This is why I’m glad to travel with you.” Eren tilted Armin’s chin up to encourage his confidence, and the 2 followed the suggestion deeper into the forest.

-

As they strolled along, hand in hand, the forest was beginning to seem less and less welcoming. Little by little, the speckled sunlight filtering through the leaves dissipated and the path before them became dimmer and seemed so much colder, as the trees and branches became thicker and bunched closer together. They followed the stream very closely, taking note that it had since gradually widened into a river, moving a bit more rapidly the further they’d been going. Squeezing each other’s hands a little tighter as they walked, they filled each other with confidence, discussing whatever came to mind to keep themselves at ease.

“I wonder… the book we read was so taboo, to the point people are arrested for even having such a thing. Why are we forbidden to dream, Armin?”

“Anything that might inspire people to leave the walls and disrupt the peace would have to be illegal. If you can call such ignorance “peace", that is…”

“That’s stupid, we have every right to dream as we please.”

“Well, in all honesty, people WILL dream as they please, there’s no stopping it. The real question is how long do they think they can keep this up?”

“What do you mean? Do you think the peace is gonna crumble?”

Armin froze again as dark images flew through his mind…

“…min… Armin…. Armin!” After about a minute, Eren finally snapped Armin out of his trance, glad to see his gaze consciously meeting his again.

“….Sorry.“

“...No no, I’m sorry… you’re not well, we should get you home. I’ll have my dad look at you and find out what’s wrong."

The solemn look on Eren’s face that the day might end early got the better of Armin. He quickly but softly gripped his companion’s shoulders. “No, Eren, I’m sure I’ll be fine! Please, please, let’s keep going. I want this, I really do...”

Eren held his face gently in his hands, looking deeply into those gorgeous blue eyes, that filled him with so much inspiration, trying to decide what they should do. “Armin… I don’t wanna get you into a mess.”

“Eren… Come on, just a little further, I’ll prove to you I’m fine. If I’m not, we can stop. But I want to keep going with you...”

Eren gave in, believing in Armin’s strength, and pulled him into a close hug. “Alright. A bit further. Just stay close.”

“Alright…”

Armin collected his composure, trying to maintain the resolve to go further while Eren kept an eye on him constantly. The further they walked the darker it seemed to become, and the more unsure of himself Eren became. They tried very hard to be steady against the ever-growing uneasy silence of the forest enveloping them...

Suddenly, the silence broke with a strange howl, followed by the increasing volume of rustling leaves and branches behind them... They turned around and their hearts leapt at the sight of a single wolf approaching them at full speed.

“Shit… _Run, Armin!_ ” Eren shouted, tugging his hand to make sure he followed him.

They ran as fast as they could, not stopping to consider the situation. All of Eren’s instincts triggered, he now aimed to meet a single goal: get Armin to safety. Checking behind him constantly to make sure he was still there, Eren desperately tried to think of something… Suddenly he remembered the knife he’d packed in his satchel, which he neglected to tell Armin about so as not to scare him. Still running, he pulled the satchel at his hip up into his sight and dug out the weapon, unsheathing it.

Armin, striving to keep up with Eren in the dimness, noticed the scary knife in Eren’s white-knuckled hand, which made his heart jump. In the distraction, he suddenly he tripped over a root on the ground, and with a scream, fell into the river.

“Armin!!!” Eren cried, turning to find his most beloved, best friend in the world being carried away by the current.

Without a second thought, Eren leapt in after him, his satchel getting snagged on a dry root in the bank in the process. With Armin being carried away from him and the wolf only a few feet behind, he was forced to cut the strap with the knife to free himself and swim to the rescue. He gripped the handle of the knife between his teeth, paddling with the ever rising current, as fast as he could, calling out desperately for his friend.

_“Armin!!!! Armin!!!”_

In a fervent moment, Eren finally heard a reply,

“E-- Eren!!!”

and within another moment, Armin came into view, fighting water rapids as they smacked him around in an attempt to drown his little body. Eren furiously swam with all his power to reach him, but unfortunately got knocked around by the water himself, as it strove to drown him as well. Though the struggle was fierce, Eren never lessened the fight. Armin was in danger, and giving up was _never_ an option when that happened.

Meanwhile, the river was getting faster and deeper. Forcing his head to stay above the water, and biting down hard on the knife to keep his only survival tool left, Eren desperately sought out his friend, trying to maintain communication with him, calling his name and trying to keep a constant visual on him in the rapids...

Armin screamed Eren’s name as much as he could, without the river choking him to death, strained as he tried to fight the current with all his power. His own thoughts avalanched into a terrible heap of guilt and shame... He should have said no to this journey. He should’ve told Eren they weren’t strong enough for this. He should’ve told his flighty parents where they were going... He should’ve let Eren take him back when he offered and they could still backtrack easily… He should’ve accepted the honest truth of the matter: he was _weak_ … and this was the danger he put Eren in by pretending for a while that he wasn’t…

Suddenly he’d heard a rushing sound that put his thoughts on hold. Upon realization of what this meant, he began frantically calling out to Eren. “ _WATERFALL!!! EREN!!!--_ ”

Eren, struggling to catch up with Armin, heard his warning and looked up ahead to see that the water would indeed drop, taking them with it if he didn’t do something quickly. He kept his eyes on Armin the entire time he could, trying desperately to think of a plan…

Armin fought the waves, working to keep a hand above the water at all times if he couldn’t keep his head up, but was losing hope and willpower very quickly... His eyes suddenly widened at a huge fallen tree resting over the edge of the river just up ahead by the drop of the waterfall. If he could grab onto it, and hopefully pull Eren to safety on it as well, they’d be rescued and live to see another day. He'd apologize profusely for his recklessness and just hope Eren would forgive him and stay friends with him... As he approached it in the rushing current, he stretched his arm out as far as he could to take hold of it’s branches, when a sudden dip in the river bed beneath him rushed the current and swallowed him under. _Hopelessness_. That was all that was left. As his head flew back above the water, with his hand still reaching out as far as it could, he let out a final scream, preparing for death while his body floated over the edge of the waterfall...

Just then, a hand appeared, gripping Armin’s wrist, and he wasn’t being carried away anymore. Straining with every ounce of his own strength, Eren had managed to grab onto the tree’s branch, and take hold of Armin, who required a moment to even process the situation. Eren pulled Armin as hard as he could from the falls’ rush, and when Armin realized what was happening, he paddled and swam as hard as _he_ could to get to Eren and join him on the tree. He finally managed to do so in a moment’s haste. Eren held him close to ensure the current didn’t take him away again and, furthermore, ensured his climb to safety. Once he was high on board the firmly resting tree, Armin rose up and reached down to pull Eren on board as well. Both of them quickly moved onto to dry land again, at last, to the sound of Armin huffing and coughing for air. Eren immediately spat out the knife he’d carried between his teeth and embraced Armin tightly, so relieved to have him back, safe and sound. His chest heaved against Armin’s, and could easily feel his rapid heartbeat against him, as it competed with his own.

Eren cried onto his shoulder “Thank God, you’re okay…”

“Eren…” choking up himself, Armin prepared to apologize, when the sight of the wolf standing on the other side of the river distracted him. “Eren! The wolf!”

Eren raised his head up, his arms still around Armin’s waist, sniffling as he spoke, “What?”, and turned around to see the wolf panting and whimpering at the ground. “Ah!” He immediately reacted, breaking the embrace, retrieving the knife, gripping it firmly, and pulling Armin behind him, deciding not to run again. “You come at us again and I’ll destroy you, idiot!”

Armin quickly analyzed the situation, taking into account the size of the tired little wolf, the fact that it was alone, and how disinterested in them it actually seemed, but most importantly, that the wolf had actually been _wounded_ and was bleeding... He brought his hand to Eren’s wrist to make him lower the knife. “Wait Eren! Look.”

Eren obeyed and finally noticed the blood all over the wolf’s front leg.

"He’s injured... And he's not fighting us. He’s panting, like he’s exhausted and he’s not paying a bit of attention to us…  He was running well before he found us, and clearly well after we’d been carried off here… Wolves travel in groups, if he were hungry, a whole pack would’ve been on our tails… I… I don’t think he’s after us…”

Eren relaxed a bit and exhaled. “What… do you think a wolf like that was running for then?”...

Their eyes locked, pale fear flushing over their faces and without saying a word, they each knew what to surmise: this wolf was running _from_ something…

The exhausted wolf took a drink from the river, and soaked its wound, before quickly running over the edge to climb down the hill.

“…If-- If something were big enough, to scare a mighty wolf like that and send it fleeing--... all alone, with no pack to be seen…”

“Come on. We need to get out of here.” Eren insisted, starting to turn back the way they came.

“No, wait! The wolf came running from that direction, whatever was after him is probably still back there, and it’s probably big enough to cross the river if such easier-to-catch prey as us were on the other side…”

“S-so what do we do?! I don’t even have a compass or a map now!” Eren clutched the knife tightly, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

“Ah--…”

—

The boys decided to take a turn and head to their left through the woods. Eren’s priorities immediately changed from having a romantic adventure to getting Armin home before anything else went wrong. He held his friend’s dripping wet body close to him as they walked to keep him warm, just hoping and praying they would find their way back before anything more happened. Eren looked at Armin’s gloomy face trying to read it, but Armin spoke for himself.

“I’m sorry, Eren…”

“What? What for, you’ve done nothing wrong--"

“No, I did. I knew this idea wasn’t safe and I should’ve said ‘no', and I should’ve told someone about it, but I didn’t, I wanted to go out like this with you so badly that I’ve let us put ourselves in danger- I put YOU in danger… I... I’m not strong enough for a journey like this...” Armin started to break down, tears falling out of his eyes like a forsaken waterfall. “And now there’s no telling how we’ll get out of here and make it home… I was so selfish, I’m a liability, and I’m a terrible friend, I’m so sorry, Eren…” he began to cry openly, something he never liked doing in front of Eren, though Eren obviously didn’t mind, wishing he could just make the pain go away.

He put his arm around Armin’s waist and tilted his chin up to look at him. “Armin…” he looked into those broken eyes, wanting so badly to say something profound to lift his spirits, but his simple human mind couldn’t find the words… Instead he let his body speak for him by pulling Armin into a hug as he himself cried on his shoulder. “Armin… don’t apologize for this… it’s all my fault, I wanted so badly to give you your dream that I forgot to consider your safety… I really believed we could do this but I-- I failed to protect you… and I failed to give you the dreams you want so much… and- I’m just so sorry--”

“No!” Armin quickly shot his head back up to stop the apology.

“Hnn?” Eren looked at him through his tears, incredibly confused, wiping his nose and eyes.

“Don’t-- don’t ever apologize for trying to give me my dream… In this world… this sham of a walled world we live in, nothing is worth the struggle if we don’t have our dream… You're so strong and brave… _You_ will conquer this world, and I’ll be-- I’ll be so elated if I get to be by your side at all when you do….” As his heart broke, his gaze broke away from Eren’s. His eyes shut tight as he wept and he spoke impersonally. "Someday Eren… will make it to the ocean. And I’ll love him from here.”

“Armin--” Every part of Eren wanted to tell him that he wanted Armin by his side for the rest of his life. That he wanted to win back his freedom with Armin on his arm as his very right hand. He wanted them to be the legendary heroes who took back humanity’s liberty from the Titans and won their right to see the ocean, the lands of ice, the fields of sand, and the lakes of fire… but reality silenced his tongue… Armin was weak. And if he truly loved him, he could never encourage him to seek danger… He held Armin close, enough to feel his heartbeat against his chest again while he sobbed over his shoulder. Their brush with death brought another harsh truth to light for him, (specifically in relation to a secret he’d been keeping that day): _Armin could never be with him…_

“Eren…” Armin embraced him back tightly, wishing he could hold him like this forever, but knew it was time to start walking again while it was still daylight. He broke the hug, wiped his eyes, and held out his hand. “Let’s go…”

Eren solemnly accepted and took Armin's hand, continuing to lead them through the forest, silent as his mind wrestled with the horrible thought of never getting to be with this boy he loved so dearly.

—

They walked on for about an hour, neither of them smiling, but staying very close together. Eren’s dedicated arm rested around Armin’s shivering shoulder so they would share plenty body heat while Armin shamefully rested his head on Eren’s warm shoulder. Before they knew it, just up ahead was a large foreboding thicket, of tangled colossal branches, shadowed inside as far as they could see… as if it were the mouth of a monster awaiting it’s meal…

“This looks promising…” Eren commented sarcastically.

“…Mmh--” Armin looked up at the tunneling path before them, trembling a bit as it brought forth more scary visions which he tried to swallow.

Eren looked down at him with worry, saddened he couldn’t do anything, but held him up and offered his comfort anyway. “It’ll be okay. I’m right here, and you’re right here. We’ll get through this together.” He gave him his famous smile, and held out his hand to Armin’s, locking his fingers in his.

Armin nodded and the two began walking, remaining as close to each other as possible.

Armin’s breathing began to grow unsteady the further into the dark tunnel they went. Eren watched as the sweat began to appear on his brow, and debated whether or not to stop and let him rest or keep going towards the light at the end of the tunnel to soothe him.

“Are you alright? Do you need me to carry you out of here?”

“N-no!” Armin cried, panicking as he suddenly drifted apart from Eren, feeling rush and woozy. (Images of horrible things from his dream flooding his mind).

Eren’s eyes widened as he chased after Armin who looked like he was going to collapse. “Shit…”

“Let’s run, Eren! Please--"

“But you--“

Suddenly Armin took off running. “Please run!”

Eren quickly chased after him and the two finally reached the end to see the dismal daylight again.

As his heavy breathing continued, Armin fell to the ground.

“Shit! Armin, are you okay?!” Eren screamed with tears in his eyes again at the sight.

“Eren--… Be honest with me… You’re going to join the scouting legion, aren’t you?”

Eren was afraid to answer him, and so simply turned his gaze to the side. “Come on.” He raised him up from the dirt and carried him in his arms out of the dim atmosphere, over to a tree surrounded by in a little ring of grey light, which was better than none at all. He cuddled Armin close to him and finally replied to the question. “Yeah… I’m gonna join the scouting legion…”

Armin closed his eyes, his countenance going blank.

“But, I rather think you’d already figured that out…"

Armin’s sharp blue eyes opened again, empty and devoid of light. After a moment of silence, he revealed his fears. “Last night I had a horrible nightmare...”

“Oh?”

“We joined the army, and Titans broke through the gates… we were powerless to do anything…”

“…Oh…”

“…I …I was nearly eaten— but you died in my stead trying to save me…” Armin began crying on Eren’s shoulder.

Eren looked down at him, wide eyed, and swallowing hard.

“I woke up this morning, mortified… but after about an hour the fears faded away. Then you came to take me outside...”

Eren clutched him closer, trying to think of what to say “…I’m so sorry… Does this mean you’re upset I decided to join?”

“…No. I think you’re incredibly brave, and stronger than anyone I know… You can make a difference in the scouting legion, I know you can… They need you.” Armin arose from his shoulder to smile at him. "You do whatever you can, Eren Yeager… I believe in you.”

Eren stared at him for a moment, fighting the urge to cry again, gently gripping Armin’s arms, desperately wishing things could be different… but this dream they believed in, the dream of being _free_ , was _so_ much bigger than they were... It was their duty, they both agreed, to offer up themselves to serving humanity and achieving that freedom that mankind rightfully deserved… Those sad blue eyes would have to stay behind in Shiganshina, waiting for a soldier who may very well never return, no matter how strong he may be. His duty would have to be to remain there, just sending his hope and his love to the one strong enough to fight…

Suddenly Eren lost the fight with himself and wept, hugging Armin close to him. Right now, he had to get him _home._  Somehow, some way, he had to get him home. “I want to win your freedom so badly… I’m so sorry… I’m so so so sorry…”

“Eren, I--”

Eren quickly pulled away, looking at him intensely. “I’ll get you home! I will, I swore it and I will!”

“E-Eren--“

Eren swiftly rose up, wiped away his tears, and with a wholly desperate plea, finally cried for help. His voice wailed and howled through the trees and echoed into the distance. _“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!!!!! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!!!”_

Armin looked up at the boy he loved, welling up with emotion and stood up to hug him tight, throwing his arms around him.

Eren hugged him back, the sweat and heat from his swampy forehead brushing up against Armin’s (who didn’t mind in the slightest). He let out one final cry for help, as loud as he could. _“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!!!!!….”_

The two children, cold, wet, scared... brave, and in love, simply stood still, holding each other for a moment, hoping someone heard them... when out of the blue came a strange wail in return behind them, from the horrid thicket.

Eren held Armin close to him, intending to protect him with all his power, and Armin held him tightly in return, refusing to let anything happen to him, no matter how weak he was.

“Oi! Show yourself!” Eren shouted as he pulled out the unsheathed knife from his soggy pocket.

Armin glared with a fierce grit in his teeth, preparing to analyze the situation as it approached them, to come up with some idea to save them as quickly as possible.

The crunch and crackle of dead leaves and branches inside the mouth of the thicket tunnel grew louder and louder… something _big_ was definitely heading towards them, not slowing down for a second. Within moments, what appeared before them was a colossal boar, at _least_ twice their size, charging without hesitation. Eren thought fast and pushed the two of them out of the boar's path, watching it slide to a distracted stop to turn back, as they circled around it to escape.

The boar tailed after them, gaining on them without fail and thus Eren grabbed Armin’s arm and halted their flight, in front of a tree one could easily climb.

“Armin, we’re cornered, we can’t outrun this thing! Climb up that tree where it’s safe, while I fight him off the best I can down here!”

“Hell, no! I’m not leaving your side!”

“Go on! I’ll fight with everything I've got!” he tried to argue.

“I know you will, that’s why I refuse to just stand by and watch it! I’m fighting _with_ you, even if it kills me! That is _my_ decision! We’re in this _together_ , aren’t we?!”

Eren looked into those eyes and in that single second, everything came rushing forward, everything Armin stood for, everything Armin meant to him, and what Armin’s dreams meant to him, and what Armin's heart yearned for, pointing him to the only, very clear, unfortunate answer: “... _Yes_.”

The 2 locked hands and let out a loud angry battle cry as they awaited the beast before them…

A gunshot sounded. 

The young boar, still running, suddenly fell over and squealed in pain.

The two boys stood frozen, holding each other, trying to figure out what had just happened...

Following the death of the boar, was the sound of the clopping steps of a running horse behind it. Still in fight-or-flight mode, the boys held their stance only to find that of all things, what approached them now was none other than Hannes and Mikasa, whom held a smoking gun in her confident hands.

“I know it’s probably the booze talking, but I rather think you grabbing that gun from me was a _good_ idea, Mikasa!” Hannes slurred as he pat her on the back for a job well done, not knowing what _else_ to do about it. 

She looked down blankly at her prey, almost disappointed it wasn’t more of a challenge to destroy. “One measly chance shot to the heart, that’s all it took. ‘Colossal beast’ indeed…”

Eren and Armin looked at each other confused but ultimately relieved, finally smiling again for one another.

As the horse came to a stop, the young huntress hopped down to scold Eren.

“Eren. What were you thinking? Your mother would be furious at you. And you dragged poor Armin along too.”

“Oh, shut up, Armin and I did just fine, didn’t we, Armin?” he lied desperately.

Honest Armin simply bowed his head graciously to her. “Thank you so much, Mikasa. You saved our lives.”

Eren blushed, humiliated, but, as always, never argued with Armin’s wisdom. “Tch, whatever, thanks, Mikasa.”

Hannes finally meandered over to the kids. “We’d followed the trail of clothes and supplies you've been leaving around and then we just followed your shrieking. I’m impressed! You scamps made it this far in without a map! Mikasa said you left an old atlas book open on your desk when she was looking for you this afternoon, Eren.”

“'Hyle Forest’, you circled it in red ink. The page said it was unexplored and unmapped.”

Hannes laughed “That must’ve been one old book! Eren this forest isn’t unmapped, it’s heavily treaded, by foot even, and widely used to hunt for game. In fact if you’d kept going about a few hundred more meters, you’d have reached my wife’s generous old village on the east edge! They would’ve sent you home with clean clothes and plenty of food for the ride back!”

Eren hit his forehead with his palm while Armin smiled awkwardly at the sickly amusing irony.

Mikasa grabbed Eren by the ear “Don’t wander off like this ever again. It’s incredibly foolish of you.”

Hannes continued. “Anyway, I’ll gladly take you kids home, and I won’t even bother telling your parents since you were hardly in any real danger, as far as I can tell. You surely learned your lesson after your run in with this little swine, here.” He took a big swig from his flask.

Mikasa nodded, agreeing to keep it a secret, so that Armin wouldn’t get in trouble for Eren’s recklessness. She then remounted the horse like it was as simple as jumping over a puddle.

Armin looked down at his feet, hugging himself for warmth, inciting Eren’s affectionate concern.

After returning his flask to his pocket, Hannes bent down to pick up Armin, “Alright, let’s go. Hup!”, and sat him on the horse, following suit with little Eren as well, who decided not to bother attempting to mount the horse himself like Mikasa did, as it wasn’t worth the trouble right now.

From up there, with a clearer scope, Eren and Armin noted the young “colossal” boar, wasn’t as large as it seemed to them from below...

\--

Even while inebriated, Hannes knew the forest so well, he'd managed to get the kids out and back home within a half an hour, chatting away about the boar the kids found and deciding he’d go back for it later to share with his comrades. He dropped them off at the gate, leaving them in Mikasa’s responsible hands, and turned around to gather some other slacker coworkers to help retrieve the pig.

Mikasa firmly scolded Eren again. “You should’ve taken _me_ along, at least. I won’t tell your parents, but I won’t excuse you acting so recklessly, either, Eren.” 

“Nag nag nag, that’s all you do...” Eren chastised, trying to pretend he wasn’t as helpless back there as he was.

Armin simply smiled at him.

They arrived at Armin’s house and the shivering Armin opened his front door, greeted by no one, as usual and as expected.

“Thank you for rescuing us again, Mikasa. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”

Mikasa nodded humbly.

“We would’ve thought of something…” Eren muttered sadly.

Armin tilted Eren’s chin up and gave him a little smile. “Good night, you two...” He announced softly. The look in his eyes that he shot Eren, however, implied he wanted Eren to come by later that evening…

“Come on, Eren. You need a bath.” Mikasa insisted.

“Aye, it’s like I have two mothers…”

Armin chuckled as he watched them leave before quietly shutting the door.

—

As the sun began to set, a refreshed Eren snuck out of his window, and ran down the street to Armin’s house. The kids had lied to Carla, saying that he and Armin simply slipped and fell in the litter-filled boat river, and to avoid any suspicion or interrogation, Eren simply stayed in his room all evening after his bath and his dinner.

Armin’s grandfather had finally awoken from a long day nap and prepared a late dinner for himself and Armin in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Armin, now-clean, bathed, refreshed, and warm, patiently awaited Eren’s arrival, rereading from the book about the outside world, and day dreaming about it... He lit up at the sight of Eren approaching his bedroom window, at last.

Eren greeted him with a friendly tap-tap-tap on the glass and Armin opened the window to welcome him. “Eren...”

“Are you alright?” he took Armin’s hands in his.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Anymore trouble from those nightmares?” he inquired, stroking Armin's cheek.

“No, I think I’m alright now.” he beamed, then rested against the window frame. “Eren?”

“Hmm?”

“I really… _really_ do believe in you, you know…”

Eren blushed and looked away for a moment. “I know. Thank you... I’m sorry… This is something I have to do.”

“Oh, I know. Believe me, I know. I’d be right there with you if I weren’t so weak…” he turned his gaze down solemnly, but still smiled.

Eren reached out and gently turned his face to look at him again. He spoke firmly. “You are my inspiration, Armin… You’re a service to mankind just by existing.”

Armin blushed and climbed out of his window to hug his young naive lover. “When you… come back from the war… will you remember me? And come back to find me again?"

Eren hugged his beloved, thinking over his shoulder about what to say, struggling with the concept of false hope that he would _live_ to return… But how could he not believe what _Armin_ so clearly believed with all his heart? He pulled away and gazed into those eyes he loved desperately, resting a hand on his cheek, answering honestly. “Of course I will. There’s a lot of things I may forget, but _you_ … Oh, you… I could never. No matter what, _that_ doesn’t change. Alright?”

Eren’s answer gave him evident peace “Mmh.”

“The moment you and I are free, I’ll come back to you. And give you everything I’ve got, okay? Whatever wonders are out there, I’ll do whatever it takes to give them to you.”

“I look forward to that moment.” Armin chuckled softly. "I do believe there’s wonder outside of here. And I want to show you something amazing.”

“And I want to see it!” he squeezed Armin’s hands in his own. “Whatever it is, we’re going to see it together. I promise.”

Armin looked deeply into those sincere grey eyes… and smiled. How could he not believe in him? “You’re a good friend.”

Eren laughed heartily but couldn’t explain why.

He hugged Armin again, and waved goodbye as he ran back home to get there before the sun went down.


End file.
